Venezuela devalues currency in crisis dollar sale

Crisis-hit Venezuela devalued its currency by 64 percent in a dollar auction that aimed to stabilize its foreign exchange market, officials said Wednesday. Under an overhauled official exchange system, the government let investors bid for the dollars at a new higher rate in what President Nicolas Maduro said was an effort to undermine the black market. The US bills sold at a rate of 2,010 bolivars per dollar, said Pedro Maldonado, president of the central bank’s Currency Auction Committee.